This week I headed to Toronto for a work detail. Now I feel like my soul has been stolen by Pearson. Mr. Pearson forced me to check my small rolling luggage because there was no room in the overhead compartments. I had a plan and it had been thwarted. I had a small backpack and my small rolling bag. Baggage claim in my town is slow.

My goal, carry on all my luggage to save time upon my late night arrival in Seattle. Oops, I was a bit flustered with the lack of overhead compartment space and forgot to get my passport out of my luggage when I had them gate check it. You can only imagine what happened when I got home. Nothing was to be found. The bag carousel stopped moving and my stuff was missing. This was my worst fear. Work laptop, passport, gifts for Anna, my dress clothes, and the new suitcase. For now they're all gone.

To bring the trip to a nice conclusion, on my way home from the Seattle airport I witnessed an aging Mercedes station wagon do a 360. It happened on the interstate right in front of me. Their car was suddenly facing mine. I put on my hazards and pulled to the side of the highway to verify all four occupants were unharmed. Shaken they were, but injured they were not. Another motorist also stopped to offer assistance. I could barely hear her since my right ear had yet to pop from the plane flight.

Lesson Learned: traveling to a foreign country is risky. Even riskier if said country names their busy airport after someone named Pearson. I realize this post doesn't cast a favorable view of my trip. Rest assured I loved Toronto and the people I met. More to come on that subject later. Seriously, my trip was a blast minus what I shared in this post.

UPDATE: my first call to Continental Airlines this morning turned up nothing. However, my second call tonight shows they tracked down my bag and it's on the way to Seattle as I type. I'm relieved and will be much more relieved when it arrives to my doorstep tomorrow morning.

UPDATE II: Friday at 7:50am my missing bag arrived. The contents were undisturbed and I was finally able to relax. Phew. Major disaster averted.

26 Responses to Jack Bauer I am Not

Dude going to Toronto is barely leaving the Estados Unidos. You clear US customs while your still in Canada so you don’t have to land with the international arrivals at your home airport. Had you kept your passport in your suitcase and you were flying in from a non-Canadian airport they wouldn’t let your ass back in to the country.
I love flying through Pearson. Or even better is Vancouver’s airport with the totem poles.
Oh, too bad about the work laptop. You’ll probably not see it again. And if you do it will be broken. Next time keep your computer and passport on your person whether you’re flying out of Pearson or any other airport.

Kirk – Pearson is a pretty nice airport. I’m not sure what the deal is up north, but I couldn’t locate a single free wifi hot spot. Lame. Totem poles are cool and abundant here in our great state. Oh, check my update on this post.
Meno – the way to Toronto wasn’t fun. I felt like I could barely move. The way back was much different. The plane from Newark to Seattle was only about 60% full which was really nice. Too bad they had to ruin it all by showing that horrible Speed Racer movie.
QT – yeah, it’s happened to me before and I’m sure it will happen again. Good news though, the bag has been located and is currently on its way to Seattle.
Sprizee – agreed, accidents aren’t good. The car tried to cut over a few lanes to exit on MLK Way heading north on I-5. Little did they realize there’s a curb in between the right lane and the exit lanes. They are very very lucky their car didn’t roll. That would have freaked me the hell out.
Eunice – having a kid makes traveling tough. I don’t like being away from family for all that long. Mr. Pearson, you’re the best.
Justrun – I know, thinking about it some more. I’m not sure how the car didn’t roll over. Those older Mercedes wagons are heavy and that’s maybe what saved them. They did blow out both of their back tires. Not good.
Eunice – but really, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. One carry on and one for the overhead compartment. What sucks is I saw how much other stuff people had with them since I arrived so early. I should have known better and snuck on the plane before they called my row.
Essentially Me – good news, the luggage has been located and is in the air heading back to Seattle. I should have it in my hands within 12-15 hours. We’ll see. Crossing my fingers. The moose was a big hit. I stuffed it in my backpack.

I used to love flying. Then I became sentient and realized what a hassle it is. Then everything changed about flying and now I despise even the thought. When are they going to finally get us our personal flying cars?

The best news is that you had a good time there and are home safe. Whether or not Anna’s gifts make it back, and it’s wonderful that they seem to be on their way, having her daddy back is what she’ll appreciate most.

JLee – so if you do have to travel, do you drive instead? It would be tempting if we didn’t live in the upper left corner of our country.
Pants – see I’m a bit the opposite. I usually wait until the last minute to pack so I don’t have to think about it. The more I think about packing, the more likely I am to get myself worked up. I did get my bag back so life is good.
Essentially Me – damn right, I was so happy to get my stuff back. I sighed rather loud this morning when it arrived.
Maggie – our own personal flying cars would be so damn awesome. Could we avoid customs with those too? Let’s hope.
Chris – yes, having daddy back is right. While I was gone, she got really good at saying “daddy” too. Touching it is.
Mone – I only took a few pictures and those were with my cell phone. I didn’t pack the nice camera. I should really consider packing our inexpensive one for short trips.
Mone – I got you. I know you lived here for a bit.
Golden – I’m not so good about getting her on record. I do have some videos I need to upload to the old YouTube site. I’ll keep you posted.
Big Bro – oh yeah, I forgot to buy you and Nancy something from Toronto. My bad. I just didn’t have as much time as I’d like to search for gifts. Well that’s not entirely true because I killed a good 30 minutes in Eaton Centre Wednesday afternoon.
Churlita – tell me about it. I’m so damn relieved my bags are back and nothing is missing. I had horrible thoughts about never seeing any of that stuff again.

I’m surprised about the notebook. Lost notebooks rarely make it home.
Also, free wifi is the exception, not the rule outside the US. The only free wifi I had while in Toronto the last time was courtesy of someone with an open router near where I was enjoying a coffee. Of course, England is worse where not only is the wifi not free, the pay-for-play places are obscenely expensive (or maybe part of that is the exchange rate).
Worst place on earth: The hotel I stayed at in Moscow was $40 a day for interweb. It wasn’t that fast either. For once I was glad to be traveling with my boss so he could approve the fee while I was there.

The only feeling worse than your luggage not showing up is having your hand stuck in a jar. Trust.
I’m glad you got yours back, I want to give Canada credit for this… but I can’t figure out how to swing it.

So glad you got it back. Mine was lost during my last trip, and it turned out someone took it by mistake. Lucky, it was all delivered within 24 hrs.
Now more on the nice people you’ve met in Toronto, Okay??

Kirk – yeah, I guess I take the free wifi hot spots for granted. I won’t do that again. I’m such a mooch with my iPod touch. I know, I’m so relieved my laptop showed up. It’s possible one might not even know a laptop was in my bag though. The Swiss Army luggage is very discreet.
Brandy – Canada deserves mad props. They were courteous the entire time and gave out plenty of smiles.
Cléa – you know it really surprises me we don’t match baggage claim receipts to the actual baggage. I’ve only done it once in New York City prior to September 11th. Yes, you want to hear more about the nice bloggers or random people on the street?
CDP – honestly, the trip back wasn’t too bad. If my bag didn’t disappear it would have been the smoothest return trip, but we had a slight hiccup. I’m glad things are back safe and sound. I’m typing this on my “missing” laptop.
Ms. Chica – my goal isn’t to check which is why I carried everything on. I should have been more persistant about keeping it on the flight. I was afraid I might miss my connection in Newark though.